The present invention relates to communication networks and more particularly to in-band IP telephony communication while utilizing other IP based applications.
The current telecommunication service providers"" networks reflect the architecture of the PSTN network as it has evolved over the last 100 years. This is largely based on circuit switched technologies. Initially, all telecommunication services were offered via a wired infrastructure. As the user-base increased and requirements changed over the last few decades, new types of services were created e.g. wireless PSTN, cable video, multi-service (PSTN, video, satellite). The networks that supported these services were created as parallel networks, along-side the existing PSTN network. As technologies matured, there was some convergence (e.g. they shared the same SONET backbone) in the network architecture. During the late 1980s, with the explosion of data networking and Internet, data networking networks like frame relay and ATM were developed, and later large internet based data networks were constructed in parallel with the existing PSTN infrastructure. These data networks again shared the PSTN infrastructure only at the SONET backbone layer. This state of current networks is called the existing xe2x80x9cCorexe2x80x9d. Thus the xe2x80x9cCorexe2x80x9d network is a set of parallel networks; PSTN, wireless, satellite, cable, ATM, frame relay, IP. There is some interoperability between the services on these parallel network (e.g. PSTN, and wireless), but generally these networks are vertically integrated to provide distinct set of non-interoperable services.
According to a broad aspect of a preferred embodiment of the invention, telephone calls, data and other multimedia information is routed through a hybrid network system which includes transfer of information across the internet utilizing telephony routing information and internet protocol address information. The system includes integrated fP telephony services allowing a user of a web application to communicate in an audio fashion in-band without having to pick up another telephone. Users can click a button and go to a call center through the hybrid network using IP telephony. The system invokes an IP telephony session simultaneously with the data session, and uses an active directory lookup whenever a user uses the system. The communication may be limited based on a user profile, where the profile is enforced by rules in an active database that provides seamless cross-location registration without a need for duplicate databases located on different networks. Customized fault management tools also may be provided.